Bowlin Beige

Well, the day I've dreaded has finally arrived. Our last full day in Scotland - we fly back to the States tomorrow. It has been such a great trip and we've done so much in the past nine days! Today we explored more of Stirling, starting with Bannockburn Battlefield. This is where Robert the Bruce beat the English in the early 1300's, even though they were highly outnumbered. Scots consider this the most important battle in gaining Scottish independence. Lunch at a local pub with a great quote on their bar. Next on to Edinburgh Castle, probably the best preserved castle in Scotland (and certainly the most historically significant). Built on high rock with beautiful views of the surrounding areas. Another Heilan Coo! She even posed for me. We stopped at a cafe to meet Maggie, a Scotland artist who is a friend of my mom's. My mom has taken several of her pastel workshops (including one in Scotland a few years ago) and Maggie always stays with my parents when she comes to t...

We  had such a good nights sleep in our dark castle room and woke up ready for our next adventure. After breakfast we popped back in the car and headed east. We had been staying in the Argyll region and covered the last bit of the southern Highlands as we drove through Glen Lochy and south to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. We made it almost to Ayrshire, but we'll have to come back another time to visit my (maiden) namesake. This is the park where the Scots go to vacation, and it's easy to see why. It's an hour from Glasgow, Stirling, and Edinburgh, so that's most of the population!  We stopped for lunch on the loch and then headed through the middle of the park. My DH was so excited to drive through Dukes Pass, especially because he happened to be wearing a JMU shirt! So many beautiful places to stop for a walk. I'm constantly amazed by how green everything is. "Cow and Castle" My highlight from today was finally seeing Heilan Coos that were ...

This morning we reluctantly left the Misty Island to head back to the mainland. On our way to the southern peninsula we were able to see some parts of the island we hadn't seen before. We took the car ferry across to Mallaig - that was a new experience! It was fun to drive the car onto the ship! Be careful that you don't drive into the sea... After a quick boat ride we arrived back in 'mainland' Scotland and headed down A830, which is known as the 'Road to the Isles' (except we took the route backwards).  It would've been a beautiful trip except we encountered our first real day of Scottish weather. I want to stop for a minute because I really can't complain. We've had gorgeous weather our whole trip (and I was thoroughly prepared to be walking in rain for 9 days). So having one day of rain - and a day when we are mostly in the car - really ain't bad at all. We drove through Glenfinnan and saw the Glenfinnan Viaduct (for those of you Harry Potter...